By Tim Pollard
First Official Pictures
13 November 2008 15:04
Cometh the hour, cometh the tuning company. Brabus, purveyors of all things fast and freaky, is turning its hand to the electric Tesla Roadster. It's unveiling this customised battery car at the 2008 Essen car show – and the company has launched a new arm called Brabus Zero Emission to cater for the growth in eco-friendly cars.

Tesla dropped some new photos of the Model S Alpha sedan on us on Monday, and the car is looking more like a production vehicle every day. The shots show a Tesla Model S in a shade of black sporting a new front fascia with a lower, sharper, more aggressive look. It includes some vents for possible brake or engine cooling purposes, along with the same 10-spoke fan-blade wheels as the concept car.

Along with the news of a new Infiniti global flagship sedan, we sat down with Nissan/Infiniti vice president Andy Palmer to discuss the brand's new goals and the challenges it'll face achieving them in a competitive global market. Why is Nissan becoming so ambitious with Infiniti? In today's industry, 12 percent of the volume and 50 percent of the profits comes from the premium group -- defined by 13 nameplates.